NationMaster - Encyclopedia: Feast day

The calendar of saints is a traditional Christian method of organising a liturgical year on the level of days by associating each day with a saint, and referring to the day as the saint's day of that saint. This calendar system, when combined with major church festivals and movable and immovable feasts, constructs a very human and personalised yet often localised way of organising the year and identifying dates. It may be compared with the Roman Missal.

Medievalists continue the old tradition of dating by saints' days: their works may appear "dated" as "The Feast of Saint Martin" or "Lammastide". Poets such as John Keats commemorate the importance of The Eve of Saint Agnes. Many children acquire baptismal or confirmational names from the saint associated with their date of birth, baptism or confirmation, and believing Eastern Orthodox Christians mark the "name day" of the saint whose name they bear with special attention.

Various feast days will be "ranked" with various levels of importance. In the Roman Catholic Church, from most to least importance, these are solemnities, feasts, memorials, and optional memorials. The rankings listed below are those for the universal church, various countries or dioceses may have additional saints or blesseds in their calendars. If no ranking is given, the feast day belongs to some particular calendar and not the universal calendar.

Some traditional dates (Roman Catholic unless otherwise indicated) include:

Contents

January

January 1: Mary, Mother of God - Solemnity
January 2: Saints Basil the Great and Gregory Nazianzen - Memorial
January 3: The Feast of the Holy Name
January 5: Saint Angela of Foligno
January 6: Epiphany - Solemnity
January 7: Saint Raymond of Pe�afort - Optional Memorial
January 8: Saint John
January 13: Saint Hilary of Poitiers - Optional Memorial
January 17: Saint Anthony the Great - Memorial
January 18: The Confession of Saint Peter
January 20: Saint Fabian or Saint Sebastian - Optional Memorial
January 21: Saint Agnes - Memorial
January 22: Saint Vincent - Optional Memorial
January 24: Francis de Sales - Memorial
January 25: The Conversion of Saint Paul - Feast
January 26: Saints Timothy and Titus - Memorial
January 27: Saint Angela Merici - Optional Memorial
January 31: Saint John Bosco - Memorial
Sunday after January 6: Baptism of the Lord - Feast

February

February 2: Presentation of the Lord - Feast
February 3: Saint Blaise or Saint Ansgar - Optional Memorial
February 5: Saint Agatha - Memorial
February 6: Saints Paul Miki and Companions - Memorial
February 8: Saint Jerome Emilianus - Optional Memorial
February 10: Saint Scholastica - Memorial or Saint Charalampos (Eastern Orthodox Church)
February 14: Saints Cyril and Methodius - Memorial or Saint Valentine
February 17: Seven Holy Founders of the Servite Order - Optional Memorial
February 21: Saint Peter Damian - Optional Memorial
February 22: Chair of Saint Peter - Feast
February 23: Saint Polycarp - Memorial

March

March 1: Saint David
March 4: Saint Casimir - Optional Memorial
March 7: Saints Perpetua and Felicity - Memorial
March 8: Saint John of God - Optional Memorial
March 9: Saint Frances of Rome - Optional Memorial
March 17: Saint Patrick - Optional Memorial
March 18: Saint Cyril of Jerusalem - Optional Memorial
March 19: Saint Joseph - Solemnity
March 23: Saint Turibius of Mogrovejo - Optional Memorial
March 25: Annunciation - Solemnity
March 31: Saint Benjamin

April

April 2: Saint Francis of Paola - Optional Memorial
April 4: Saint Isidore - Optional Memorial
April 5: Saint Vincent Ferrer - Optional Memorial
April 7: Saint John Baptist de la Salle - Memorial
April 11: Saint Stanislaus - Memorial or Saint Leo I (moved to November 10 in the new calendar)
April 13: Saint Martin I - Optional Memorial
April 14: Saint Timothy (modern Catholic Calendar has moved this to January 26)
April 21: Saint Anselm of Canterbury - Optional Memorial
April 23: Saint George or Saint Adalbert - Optional Memorial
April 24: Saint Fidelis of Sigmaringen - Optional Memorial
April 25: Saint Mark the Evangelist - Feast
April 28: Saint Peter Chanel - Optional Memorial
April 29: Saint Catherine of Siena - Memorial
April 30: Saint Pius V - Optional Memorial

May

May 1: Saint Joseph the Worker - Optional Memorial
May 2: Saint Athanasius - Memorial
May 3: Saint Philip and Saint James - Feast
May 4: Saint Godehard - Feast
May 12: Saints Nereus and Achilleus or Saint Pancratius - Optional Memorial
May 14: Saint Matthias the Apostle - Feast
May 15: Saint Dymphna and Saint Gerebernus
May 18: Saint John I - Optional Memorial
May 19: Saint Dunstan
May 20: Saint Bernardine of Siena - Optional Memorial
May 25: Saint Bede the Venerable or Saint Gregory VII - Optional Memorial
May 26: Saint Philip Neri - Memorial
May 27: Saint Augustine (Austin) of Canterbury - Optional Memorial
May 31: Visitation of the Blessed Virgin Mary - Feast

June

June 1: Saint Justin Martyr - Memorial
June 2: Saints Marcellinus and Peter - Optional Memorial
June 3: Saints Carl Lwanga and Companions - Memorial
June 5: Saint Boniface - Memorial
June 6: Saint Norbert - Optional Memorial
June 7: Saint Gotteschalk
June 9: Saint Ephrem - Optional Memorial or Saint Columba
June 11: Saint Barnabas the Apostle - Memorial
June 13: Saint Anthony of Padua - Memorial
June 19: Saint Romuald - Optional Memorial
June 20: Saint Adalbert of Magdeburg or Saint Hector
June 21: Saint Aloysius Gonzaga - Memorial
June 22: Saints John Fisher and Thomas More or Saint Paulinus of Nolan - Optional Memorial or Saint Alban
June 24: Birth of Saint John the Baptist - Solemnity or Saint Amphibalus
June 25: Saint William of Vercelli
June 27: Saint Cyril of Alexandria - Optional Memorial
June 28: Saint Irenaus - Memorial
June 29: Saint Peter and Saint Paul - Solemnity
June 30: First martyrs of the Church of Rome - Optional Memorial

July

July 3: Saint Thomas the Apostle - Feast
July 4: Saint Elizabeth of Portugal - Optional Memorial
July 5: Saint Anthony Mary Zachary - Optional Memorial
July 6: Saint Maria Goretti - Optional Memorial
July 11: Saint Benedict - Memorial
July 13: Saint Henry - Optional Memorial or Saint Teresa de los Andes
July 14: Saint Camille of Lille - Optional Memorial
July 15: Saint Bonaventure - Memorial or Saint Swithun (Anglican Church), Saint Vladimir the Great (Eastern Orthodox churches)
July 16: Our Lady of Mount Carmel - Optional Memorial, Saint Helier
July 17: Saint Lawrence of Brindisi - Optional Memorial
July 22: Saint Mary Magdalene - Memorial
July 23: Saint Birgitta (Bridget of Sweden) - Optional Memorial
July 25: Saint James the Greater - Feast
July 26: Saints Joachim and Anne - Memorial
July 29: Saint Martha - Memorial
July 30: Saint Peter Chrysologus - Optional Memorial
July 31: Saint Ignatius of Loyola - Memorial